Ebay

I have a few Halloween items on Ebay. I'll be adding more as this week goes by. If you like what you see but you don't have an ebay account, just email me and we will work something out!

My Ebay

I'm dreaming up a Halloween contest giveaway and will be posting it soon, so check back for details.

Etsy Treasury

This is fun. One of my witches is in an Etsy treasury. That has only happened a few times to me since I've been on Etsy (2007).

It gives me a little bit of exposure which is always nice. The treasury is called, "The Witches Are Back" and features a lot of cute, whimsical and down right scary witches. I guess mine would be considered cute!

I'm trying so hard to get a tutorial done. I've spent a lot of time making clay and putting things up on etsy and Ebay that the tutorial is late. Maybe I'll get one finished tonight. But, I won't make any promises.

Check out the Etsy Treasury!

Etsy

Ebay listings

I've been pretty busy today working on listing clay on ebay. I really wanted to go to the beach, but I'm going to wait till Wednesday when it's going to be 88 degrees and not so many people.

In the meantime here are some things I listed today. I have a pretty low price on everything, kind of a Summer discount.Here's a link to my ebay page. Nothing you see here is over $4.00. (except for one auction that has two bears and is $6.00). Lots of great deals folks! Shipping is very reasonable too.

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I also put together a light box to take pictures in. It looked easier to do than it was, but it's finished now. The whole idea is to take better pictures. I have a ways to go in that department.

Here's a link to the directions to build your own light box. These are the instructions I used, although my box doesn't look that great (I'm going to make another one soon.) I want my pictures to turn out as nicely as the examples shown in the tutorial. Good luck if you try this.

Happy Dad's day!

What's the other guy doing?

They say "to thine own self be true" and I think it's time for me to really follow my heart.

I am so consumed with what is trendy or hot, that I spend a little too much time surfing the net, checking out the competition, researching color schemes and styles and fretting over things that don't sell, that I am missing opportunities to create.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about. I read an article about a woman who quit her day job because she was making a nice living selling her craft on etsy. She gets up in the morning, checks her email to see how many things sold during the night, fills the orders, then produces more inventory. Sounds like a dream! When I saw what she made, I felt disheartened, because what she creates isn't too much different than what I make. I certainly don't get up everyday to see all the orders I received during the night. I may get three or four a week. At this point, it's not enough. I need daily orders!

So what's the difference between her and I? I really believe she just follows her heart and creates her art. She's found her niche and is happily creating. I doubt if she worries about the competition or what's hot or not. She just creates. She creates everyday and it sells everyday.Sometimes when I read a success story, I think to myself..."they aren't worried about you, Debbie. They are doing their art." They aren't surfing the web looking for ideas, or biting their nails over the competition. Their heart isn't racing because someone else has a website full of similar creations. They just are doing it.

"It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation." Herman Melville

So I've made a challenge to myself for tomorrow. I'm going to turn on the computer for one hour in the morning to check my emails and finish my homework. Then I'm going to turn it off for the rest of the day. I'm not going to worry about etsy, or Ebay or Paypal. I'm not going to do searches on Halloween or Christmas. There will be no surfing for color trends and hot ideas.

I'm just going to create. I don't need any more ideas swirling around in my head. I have thousands up there already. My brain is so crowded with ideas that most of them get so lost I'll never find them again. If all goes well, I'll make it a habit to keep my on-line visits for bill paying, emailing, and selling. Oh, and of course, blogging!

Halloween Clay Babies

As I promised, here are some of the halloween things I've been working on

I'm doing 5 shows this fall and that is just the motivation I needed to get cracking on making lots and lots of clay. The main motivation is paying my bills and keeping myself from being homeless.



This is a pin I made from scanning a vintage postcard and attaching it to clay. I've made several and when they are finished, I'll post pictures. I added some beads to some. I did these about 5 years ago, sold a few and stopped. Now I see that they might be kind of popular. I love vintage, so the process of finding images, and designing the pins is fun. For years I've been collecting kids books from the 50 and 60s and thought those images would look great on pins too.
Witch on three pumpkins...$10.00


Scarecrow with a crow and pumpkin...$8.00

I'm not doing too well on ebay right now. I only keep a few things on there just so people can see me, but for some reason, my stuff isn't selling like it used to. It's not keeping me up at night, but it is causing me to take a look at my creations. I wonder, what are people looking for?


I would love to hear suggestions on how I might do better on ebay. I've tried to keep my prices competitive. I've used a lot of key words in my listing. I'm even offering free shipping. Free!! (of course, I've raised my price, but since my clay is moderately priced to begin with, it's still not expensive)..
At this point, it's costing me more than what I'm making. That is not good business.I know the economy isn't doing too well right now, but I can see my competition selling, so that excuse doesn't work for me. Here's my link to my ebay if anyone would like to offer up some advice..
debbies-clay-babies